The Osceola times., 1887-08-06
LOUISIANA ACADIANS,
Primitive People Unchanged by the Fro
gress of Two Centuries.

gress of Two Centuries.
Back from hat great highway, the
Mississippi, there are innumerable
smaller streams, called bayous in this
section. which fertilize an immense ex-
panse of prairie in Western Louisiana.
1t an idyllic region; there are myriads
of tropical flowers spangling the beau
tiful plains of Opelousas and Altakapas,
whose long grasses sway and change
color with every passing breeze, the
bayous and little lakes CLEAN like sill
yer in the sunshine, their islands
marked with huge live oaks and ven
erable cypress trees Enthusiastically gar
landed with Spanish moss. Multitudes
of brilliant birds add to the beauty of
the scene; the quiet bayous are often
stirred by the swift canoe of the sports
man In search Of the wild fowl with
which this section abounds. 1t is a
land beloved of artist and poet; it is the
country of Longfellow's "Evangeline." "
Along the numerous water courses
where steamboats, are never seen, where
railroads are unknown, the exiled Aca-
dians are found in all their primitive
simplicity, retaining almost unchanged
the language, manners, customs and
superstitions of the French peasant of
nearly two centuries ago. These pecu-
liar people were originally colonists
from Normandy, who settled in Nova
Sc, tia. bnt were driven thence, as any
one knows, by the prosecutions of the
English. A modern historian says of
them: "The Acadians were the most
interesting French colonists in Ameri-
ca, and no plea Of necessity could JUS
tify the cruelty of tearing them away
from their homes and consigning them
to wretchedness and poverty"
Not for long, however, were they
doomed to wretchedness and poverty,
for in 1865 these exiles found their way
to Louisiana, where they made for.
tunate exchange in the sunny cline
and fertile plains they peopled for the
bleak land they had left behind them.
A souvenir of their former home, the
province of Acadie, has clung to them
in their name, although they do not
call themselves Acadians, but Gre
oles Francais."
The Americans. and even the Gre
oles, have corrupted the name Acadian
into "Cajun," which term these people
resent strongly, yet as "Cajuns" they
are known all over the State. They
are, in fact, Creoles, being the de-
scendants of French parents born in a
French colony, but they are an entire
ly distinct people from all other popu-
lations of Gallic descent in Louisiana.
They still retain marked character
istics of their Norman origin. as unlike
the French people of more southern
provinces as if they were indeed Of sep
arate race. Those Acadians who were
of an upper class have long been ANAL
gamated through intermarriage or as
sociation with other Creoles of the
State; but the great body of these peo-
pie have kept to themselves, and are
now, as we said before, as primitive in
their ideas and customs as when they
first set foot in the New World, al
though many traits of the Norman
peasantry, which they still possess,
have been modified by climate and cir
cumstances.
They have remained purely French
and without Spanish admixture, as in
the case with other Creoles. They are
an independent, hardy, athletic race,
entirely content with their own lot in
life, being sufficient unto themselves
and having little interest in the outside
world. Their tastes are simple and
nearly all their wants are supplied
from their own industries. They are
chiefly an agricultural and stock-rais-
ing population, and for this reason the
families-though each from its own
large proportions is little colony in
itself-do not live very near together,
but are scattered broadcast over the
bosom of the prairies. N. o, Cor. San
Er1DriSco (HroOIcle